After nearly two years I have just two weeks left of my university career. Both exiting an scary at the same time. Full post-uni chat to come soon as I’m currently sat writing up my sketchbook for my final project. Sketchbooking is one thing I won’t miss from Uni…

As for my final project, I chose to photograph people who ride bikes. Nothing unusual there. I could have done something ground braking, flown to far flung countries or whatever, but currently I wanted to have some environmental portraits in my portfolio to compliment my sports photos. After this project I think it will be something I will carry on, and I think I’ll try and branch out into and do more portraiture, especially from a commercial point of view.

In other news, I am participating in the year long photography project, ‘What is England‘, curated by Stuart Pilkington. Myself and 49 other photographers from around the country have set out to produce a series of images that answer six set briefs that reflect on our chosen counties, to build up a picture of England in 2010. The second photo ‘Group’, is now up on the site, the third photo, ‘Work’, will be up June 30th.

Wow. That went quick. This is our last week in uni properly before we break up for easter. Our summer term consists of work experiance, a final deadline and a years review/crit… I have to say I have really enjoyed it. I have learnt alot, not only on the theory side, but though the guest lecturers and our own lecturers we get invaluable insights into the photographic industry. I was a little hesitant about coming back to uni to do a photograpy degree, knowing that there are alot of photographers out there who skipped a formal education and learnt on the job, but coming up to the halfway mark, I think I’ve made the right choice. I’m starting to get some Idea of what I want to do, and I hope to spend the next 5 months shooting exactly what I want to shoot and seeing what comes out the other end. I am starting to form some good ideas, I just hope I can pull them off… :-)

I have to admit this talk was back at the beginning of March, I can’t even say I’ve been that busy…

Eugenios fast paced talk instantly showed though his passion for photography. Fitting into the Still Life Advertising area of photography, even if you haven’t heard of Eugenio, you will have seen his work somewhere. From taking photography as a filler subject to allow him to do Journalism at college, to working three years as a cruise ship photographer, then as an assistant to Adam Tolner, Nadav Kandar, and finally Graham Ford, with whom he worked through the height of advertising photography in the mid 90′s, before leaving after four years to establish himself as a pro.

Most of Eugenios work was shot on 10×8” transparency, one thing that I was surprised about. In fact nearly all the work on his website is shot on film, in the studio, with no Photoshop work. This is just a testament to the meticulous planning and thought that has gone into each shot, some shot with double exposures, others triple, but in todays ‘Photoshop-familiar’ society, it was nice to see real photography for a change. One thing that was echoed last week with Solve Sundsbo. In fact Eugenio didn’t start shooting digitally until 2004, and his first digital shoot was for innocent smoothies, shooting on location in South Africa, a big step outside Eugenios comfort zone.

A few other points that I got from his talk were on the self promotion and marketing. Working as an assistant, he built up a lot of ‘warm’ contacts, people who know you and can offer you work, yet only two out of about 100 were of any use. Another point was to find a niche, something no-one else has done before. While this has been said by a lot of our guests, it is really helpful to have a recognisable ‘signature’, and for Eugenio, that is Skylines. From his first made from staples that got him recognised, to books for Waterstones, guns for Channel 5, and Galaxy chocolate. Its also worth noting that despite some luck, Eugenio has worked to become a photographer, rather than bubbling under the surface waiting for his big break, something that a lot of talented photographers seem to waste their lives doing.

http://www.eugeniofranchi.com/

Most of our guest lecturers at AiB are pretty interesting and give you a general run down of their work in a relatively blow by blow account and what they did to get there. Solve Sundsbo however was the first ‘Really Big Name’ who has come to talk to us, and not only showed some amazing images but gave a run down on his ideas and advice for ‘getting out there’ after uni.

One of the worlds best fashion photographers, Solve has a client list as long as a tall persons arm. From the high end fashion advertising for the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Dior and Gucci and editorials for Vogue, Harpers Bizarre and i-D amongst many others. The most interesting thing for someone at his level of work was the openness of his talk. He opened with the notion that anyone can be as good or better than himself, Nick Knight, Testino et al, you just need the drive and determination to succeed. Solve started out photographing everything and anything, so much so that at first art editors couldn’t find out where his style ‘fitted’ into the photographic world, which usually spells disaster for most up-coming photographers. In college Solve managed to get work assisting (AiB Alumni) Nick Knight who immediately saw his passion and potential in fashion photography, mentoring him and allowing him to expand his ideas. So after nearly 4 years Solve left Knight to go it alone. One thing that struck me immediately about his images, is the fact they are all different but very natural, with minimal post work and often natural light or just one light source. Here are some of the main points of his talk;

• Try different ideas, mix them up and see how they photograph.

• Don’t pigeon hole yourself and get labeled for one thing/style.

• Photograph what you love and inspires you, don’t try and do something just because it may make you money.

• Keep practicing, try to do one shoot a week. Two if possible.

• Photography is more about excluding than including. Rely less on Photoshop, and more on photographic skill, the return to ‘Pure’ photography.

It was interesting to see the similarities and differences from some of our other guest lecturers, Mark George for example also pushed the practice mantra, but also said that you should develop your style into a brand, and become known for shooting that really well. One idea the Solve heavily disagrees on. Another  idea was on photographic education,  comparing it to learning scales on the piano; a very important building block to base future ideas on, but once you know the scales, then they become almost redundant and can be forgotten. Almost a flippant remark, especially to people who are actually learning photography at uni, but the reasoning is this: The world is over-run with student photographers who have all learnt a similar way, and who want to be the next big thing, so to get ahead you need to come up with some new and fresh ideas by breaking the rules that were instilled throughout uni.  Seems kinda obvious really. One last point was the continuing Film/Digital debate. While a lot of Solves work is shot on digital as clients often required the photos yesterday, lots of his stuff is still shot on film, ranging from 35mm and 6×6 all the way to 10×8” transparency. As for shooting digitally, Solve still uses ‘pure’ photographic techniques cutting out the need for heavy manipulation, even on his very graphic-looking works, and so gives a very natural look to his photos. It was interesting to hear him say that for studio work he found film much punchier and has better clarity under studio lights, with digital often appearing flat, and for location work, digital has the edge. It all comes down to picking the right tool for the job.

I thought this talk was one of the best we’ve had, with someone who is not only very much at the forefront of fashion photography, but also very willing to share stories and help others up and coming in the industry. A jolly nice bloke.

Damn, two posts last month… I’m lagging behind, especially as I am using this for part of my course. I have been actually pretty busy recently, with deadlines looming for this terms projects. My digital project is nearly complete, however I’m not overly happy with the outcome but at least its mildly interesting, but which is surprising considering I thought this would be the project I would have trouble with. My portrait project is the one that I thought would be pretty straightforward, but has turned into a long drawn out affair, (see last post) so far I have one photo that I think is actually usable.  I’m really struggling to produce six portraits of mountain bikers that reflect their lifestyle and personality. At least thats not in for another week so I can get some ideas for that done to shoot at the weekend. Hopefully.

I guess the fact that I am now at uni on a photography course has made me re-evaluate how I work, which after all was the idea for going back to uni. Although there is still a few more months of this academic year left, I can tell that I have learnt a lot and now understand how to think and construct a better photo (I still have issues in the producing though :-)). In reflection to this, my portfolio site will be taking an early summer holiday while I set about re-designing and editing a new one hopefully with much better quality photos, and with a clearer direction in the way I promote myself as a photographer.

Stay Tuned…